Experimental antitumor activity has been reported for thioxanthenones notably lucanthone 1a and hycanthone 1b ##STR1## and recently the 7-hydroxy analog of lucanthone has been shown to have in vivo P388 activity.
S. Archer, K. J. Miller, R. Rej, C. Periana, and L. Fricker, J. Med. Chem., 25, 220 (1982).
S. Archer, A. H. Zayed, R. Rej, and T. A. Rugino, J. Med. Chem., 26, 1240 (1983).
The 4-nitro analog of lucanthone has been described in an earlier paper on the preparation of schistosomiasis drugs.
S. Archer and C. M. Suter, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 74, 4296 (1952).
In a recent paper, the corresponding amino compound (1c) was prepared and shown to be inactive against the P-388 lymphocytic leukemia.
S. Archer and R. Rej, J. Med. Chem., 25, 328 (1982).
The corresponding N,N-dimethylaminoethyl and N-hydroxyethylaminoethyl analogs of lucanthone were also inactive.